SAN FRANCISCO - According to a survey conducted by TheSword.com, gay adult film stars rarely discuss their HIV status with scene partners, despite the fact that nearly 30 percent of adult models are HIV-positive or don't know their HIV status.
"While knowledge of issues regarding HIV-positive models is a concern on the production side of the business, it seems that it isn't always being communicated to the models," said Michael Stabile, editor of The Sword. "In comments we received in association with the survey, it was clear that many models feel pressure, whether real or imagined, to keep their status private. Others feel that they can't ask about partners."
In the anonymous survey of nearly 100 performers over the past few weeks, porn stars voiced concerns about the on-set secrecy, expressing fears about being blacklisted and labeled "difficult" for inquiring.
"I really wish that the HIV status of the people I was working with was disclosed to me before working with them," one performer said. "I have been on shoots where, afterwards, I was told by someone else that my partner was positive.
"I feel that I'm almost being betrayed by the company that I am signed with because I feel like information like that is important to my health. It's times like that that make me wonder if the studio that is supposed to be my family really cares about me."
Despite the respondents' concerns, more than 80 percent agreed that condom-using studios do a good job of protecting performers from HIV on the set.
However, less than half of the performers surveyed felt that those studios do a good job of protecting models from other sexually transmitted diseases, citing rimming, oral cumshots and a lack of testing as major concerns.
Nearly 70 percent of the respondents said they would never do a bareback scene, while 21 percent said they'd be open to it if the performers were tested and sorted according to HIV status. Even for shoots in which condoms are used, performers wanted more information.
The Sword said the survey was prompted by the gay porn industry's renewed and intense discussion of the safety of testing alone, after bareback studio Hot Desert Knights announced a partnership with industry testing center AIM.
"When we started out with this survey, we were unaware how readily people would participate," Stabile said. "Studios, agents, directors and models all helped get respondents. The numbers that we've gathered are interesting, but we need to find out more, both in depth and in terms of methodology. What we've done here is merely to get the discussion started."
